Letters: Gorbachev's legacy, frankenstorm Sandy

Copyright 2012: Houston Chronicle

Updated 11:55 pm, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Not admiring Gorbachev

Regarding "Gorbachev says security top challenge for today's leaders" (Page B1, Friday), I attended the lecture by Mikhail Gorbachev at the Wortham and was struck by two things: the number of people in attendance and the almost reverent admiration of Gorbachev by most of the crowd.

There was fervent applause at points in his lecture and even standing ovations. He was praised by the hosts for his creation of perestroika and glasnost and his helping to end the Cold War.

All the while I was thinking that this man was a high-ranking functionary of the Soviet Communist Party for over 40 years. He knew about all the murderous atrocities that were committed in its name, not only by the movement in Russia, but worldwide; a number that some people even set at 100 million people killed.

If he did not participate in the decisions to commit these heinous acts, he never wavered in his commitment to the end result or to the means of achieving it - the advancement of worldwide communism. After listening to him speak, I would say that he is still a committed communist, unrepentant and unapologetic. The intent of perestroika and glasnost was not to end the Cold War but to try to loosen the chains on the Soviet people enough so as to compete with the West.

Fortunately for the world at the time, his competitors were Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Helmut Kohl, and Gorbachev's miscalculation in giving the Russian people more freedom was that it only made them want more.

There were a few protesters who shouted something in Russian at the end of his address, but they were quickly escorted out of the hall. I was embarrassed that Americans of any stripe would look up to this man and that no one was there to speak for the millions who were murdered.

Regarding "Where will storm's victims be housed?" (Page A3, Tuesday), it's been said that art imitates life and vice versa. Nowhere is that more evident than in Frankenstorm Sandy.

If you look at videos of the ocean rushing through the streets of New York City, it looks like the scene from the movie "The Day After Tomorrow," the one that had Houston actor Dennis Quaid in it. The movie also showed a freezing cold front settling over the city, which is also occurring right now.

The only thing left is for torrents of refugees to come streaming out of the city. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Let's also hope that nature doesn't imitate another movie, that of "2012."